Law and Rule of Law: A Reply To Professors Thomas Adams and Xiaobo Zhai

This paper has been inspired by the ‘conversation’ between Professors Thomas Adams and Xiaobo Zhai published in the previous issue of this Journal. Adams and Zhai discuss the meaning and role of the rule of law and touch upon the notion of law. The present essay criticises the way the distinguished colleagues deal with both issues. On the one hand, the focus is on the limited notion of law which Adams and Zhai along with as the mainstream debate take for granted. On the other hand, my aim is to show how a historic and comparative law driven reappraisal of the rule of law is able to unearth its intimate legal foundations as well as its limited potential for adoption outside Western societies.